I decided to take a portrait of myself. It was a challenge.

I didn’t need to worry about any photographer seeing me looking stupid and having no clue what to do with my face. I feel like I always look stupid on photos - that’s why I like being on the other side of the camera

On the other hand, how do I take a picture of myself if I’m in front of the camera and not behind? 🤔

It was little cloudy, but still bright enough. Ideal. I got everything ready:

• ironed backdrop

• camera

• tripod

• reflector on a chair, supported by my daughter’s magnetic play blocks

• chair

• phone as a remote

I managed to connect my camera to my phone using Nikon app. It works most of the time. Sometimes it doesn’t and it usually helps to rest everything and then it works again.

Cool. I was sitting in front of the camera and I was able to see myself on the screen of the phone where I could also press a button to take a picture.

It took me a while (about 30 minutes!) to find the right angle - to look “normal” and not like a whale nor like a thirteen years old trying to make a sexy Facebook selfie.

I also discovered that if I don’t smile, I look like I’m going to kill. I didn’t know how scary I can look when having a neutral face 😲. I need to smile more often. Seriously.

There were still several problems. A technical problem was that when I was looking at the phone to see how I looked, I couldn’t see how I looked, because I was looking down at the phone and not to the camera. If I lifted the phone up, my body posture changed. So I always took a picture and then checked on the phone. Not very comfortable, but the best I could do. I wanted to take a burst shot, but it was not possible to configure it that way.

My facial expression was ever lasting problem - I either looked like a serial killer, or like a crazy person. After about a hundred of tries, I realised that the best think is to consciously completely relax and then smile a little bit (not too much, not to look like a witch).

The last issue was my hair: I actually didn’t plan to take the pictures that day. But when the backdrop arrived and the forecast promised very dark the next day, I decided to give it a go immediately. The problem was that I washed my hair couple of days ago. And slept and exercised a lot since than… so my hair was very flat and looked really sad.

Then I got the idea! And immediately thought: “No! That’s going to look ridiculous. Such a cliché.” But I gave it a chance. I brought a big fan from our bedroom. And voilà! My hair finally started to look gorgeous exactly as I think that it always looks 😉.

It was a great experience. I can rarely imagine how terribly difficult it is to stand in front of a camera. Good lesson. I need to appreciate more the bravery of my subjects! And I need to learn how to communicate with them. That’s still a bit of a mystery for me how to do it better.